She comes to a point where she's at the temple of God, pouring out her sorrows and distress to Him, barring her soul in desperation and confusion and grief (been there before? I have.) so much so that the temple priest assumes she must be drunk and tells her to put away her wine (lolz 😂).
But she's really just so broken about the story of her life- about what God has given her. Why did it have to be this way?
Why does God give some of us super hard things while our mean sister-wives are popping out kids and making us feel like crap for it?
Well, hold on to your pants cause there's more to the story...
God hears Hannah's cry that day! He uses the temple priest, Eli (the one who thought she was drunk), to bless her and agree with her in prayer, and she went away with her spirit lifted and got PREGNANT soon after! She had a baby boy and named him Samuel, which means "I have asked for him from the Lord."
She was so overjoyed by this blessing from the Lord- by the way He heard her prayer and blessed her with a baby- that she chose to fully, completely dedicated her son to the Him- to the Lord's service, like, every single day of his life. After she had weaned him (So i'm thinking he was maybe 2, 3 or 4??) she handed him back over to that same temple priest, Eli, so he could serve alongside him in the house of the Lord for all of his life. She didn't live close to the temple. The text mentions a yearly visit where she would bring him a new robe, so for all we know she may have only gotten to see him that one time per year?
Pretty crazy, right? She literally gave the gift God gave her back over to Him, out of gratitude for the way that He saw her heart and cared for her.
What's most amazing to me about this story, though, is what the text says about Samuel in the next chapter. Chapter 2 is all about how Eli's sons are worthless priests, disregarding God and making a joke out of their job serving in the temple... not the kinda job you want to make your boss mad at. 'Cause their boss was God... And He gets pretty mad at them.
So God sends Eli a messenger to let him know his boys are sucking and God is going to do something about it. The messenger tells Eli that both of his sons are going to die on the same day and that God says, "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind."
Did you catch that?
God's the one raising up the priest... ahem, Samuel! If God is raising Him up, how would he be able to do that if some grateful mother outside of Eli's family hadn't given her son over the Him?? Well, I'm sure God could have found a way, but the point is that Samuel was already there on purpose!! God knew He was going to need a new priest to replace those loser sons of Eli, so He orchestrated that a Godly successor be there to take over.
Do you see where I'm going here?
Hannah didn't know why she couldn't have kids for so long... but after having waited years and experiencing a miracle from God she was compelled to dedicated her boy to temple service. And we know now, that there was a purpose for that! God did that! God orchestrated that her heart would be so overwhelmed with gratitude that she would want to do that. Guys, God did all of that on purpose.
In the moments of grief and distress, I'm sure Hannah questioned what the heck God was doing to her- just like we all do. I'm sure she cried out to God, "why does it have to be this way?!" But I also know that after the fact, when her son was grown and had the amazing honor of taking over as priest of the temple, she understood why! And it was all worth it, I'm so sure.
I also love how God continues to love on Hannah after she gave up Samuel. Chapter 2 says that the Lord "visitied Hannah" and she had 3 more sons and 2 daughters.
God gave Hannah even more kids! God did it! He orchestrated that. She only had kids because God gave them to her (just like any of us), and she only didn't have kids before because God had a purpose for her to not have them.
He sees the big picture, He's writing our stories. He knows the "why." The best thing we can do in the mess and the thick of pain and hard stuff is to trust Him, because He really does have our best in mind, even when it doesn't make sense in the moment.
Every good thing we have is a gift from God (James 1:17). Every bad thing we experience is a product of sin and the enemy who steals, kills and destroys (John 10:10).
So if you've got good things, recognize they're from God! And if it seems like the enemy is winning, remember he's never gaining ground outside of God's hand. God's always working it for our good (Romans 8:28). The enemy is real and he won't stop fighting, but the dummy thinks he's so often winning when He's not! Ultimately, God is working out every piece of our lives for our good and His glory if we will give over our agendas to Him and trust Him with everything we've got.
It's not always easy, but it better that way and it's worth it!
Back in the beginning of the story, right after Hannah gives her boy over to the temple, she prays a prayer. I love this line in her words to the Lord:
"He will guard the feet of his faithful ones." (vs. 9)
By now, she understood what God was orchestrating. She stood firm in the fact that she believed God was guarding her feet, writing her story, forging her path and having His way through it all.
Amen, to that, Hannah!
"He's got a plan, this is part of it. He's gonna finish what He started."
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